Abstract

The Slate Islands in northern Lake Superior represent the eroded remains of a complex impact crater, originally ∼ 32 km in diameter. New field studies there reveal allogenic crater fill deposits along the eastern and northern portions of the islands indicating that this 500–800 Ma impact structure is not as heavily eroded as previously thought. Near the crater center, on the western side of Patterson Island, massive blocks of target rocks, enclosed within a matrix of fine-grained polymict breccia, record the extensive deformation associated with the central uplift. Shatter cones are a common structural feature on the islands and range from <3 cm to over 10 m in length. Although shatter cones are powerful tools for recognizing and analyzing eroded impact craters, their origin remains poorly constrained.